The India Meteorological Department announced on Saturday that the southwest monsoon has withdrawn from much of north and central India.

The formal withdrawal covers recent retreats from Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as Maharashtra.

The 2026 monsoon season ended with a national rainfall shortfall of about 10 to 13 per cent. India received 759.4 mm of rain between June and September, about 87 per cent of the long-period average. Eighteen subdivisions received normal rainfall while 17 were deficient; Odisha recorded excess rainfall.

Forecasters attribute the shortfall in part to a strengthening El Nino in the Pacific.

Active weather systems will keep parts of the southern peninsula and the Northeast wet, with isolated heavy rain and thunderstorms over Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam for several days.

The IMD forecasts a short, transient spell of rain and thunderstorms for parts of northwest India and the western Himalaya between October 5 and 7, which may briefly lower daytime temperatures there.

Local effects are already visible: clear skies and rising daytime heat are prompting water-planning measures in Mumbai and water stress in several Madhya Pradesh districts. The IMD said it would continue revising local withdrawal timing as circulations evolve.